A somber and serious President Donald Trump addressed members of Congress and dignitaries at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, calling the Holocaust “history’s darkest hour.”

The president quoted Eli Weisel during the museum’s Holocaust Day of Remembrance (Yom Ha’Shoah) ceremony Tuesday morning. “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness,” Trump said, before telling the audience “Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism.”

“This is my pledge to you. We will confront anti-Semitism,” he said, noting that the sentiment had become popular on college campuses of late. Trump added, “As President of the United States, I will always stand with the Jewish people, and I will always stand with our great friend and partner, the State of Israel.”

Trump has been very consistent in his support and words of friendship toward the Jewish state, a marked departure from his predecessor’s cold shoulder and active opposition. It’s disheartening that some of Trump’s biggest online supporters in the so-called “alt-right” don’t share his affection for Jews. Perhaps he should confront them first.

The president closed with the story of Gerda Weissmann Klein, a Holocaust survivor who later married her American liberator and became a prolific writer. President Obama gave the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Klein.

“Never again,” Trump solemnly declared.

With the way Europe and the Middle East are going, I hope, as my Yiddish mother used to say, the words went from Trump’s mouth to God’s ears. May it be so.

About the author

Steve Berman

The old Steve cared about money, prestige, and power. Then Christ found me. All at once things changed. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

I spent 30 years in business. Now I write and edit. But mostly I love. I have a wife and 2 kids and a dog and we live in a little house in central Georgia.